Improvement in bomb-lance for killing whales



IG. G. BRAND. BOMB LANGE PoR KILLING WHALBS.

No. 9,047. Patented June22, 1852.

In: Nunms 51ans co, PHoToLrrua. wAsmNumu, n. c.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

CHRISTOPHER C. BRAND, OF LEDYARD, CONNECTICUT.

IMPROVEMENTlN BOMB-LANCE FOR. KILLING WHALES.

Specification forming part 'of Letters Patent No. 9,047, dated June 22, 1852.

To all 'whom t may concern:

Be itknown that I, CHRISTOPHER C. BRAND,

and represented in the following specification and' accompanying drawings, letters, igures,

.and references thereof.

Of the said drawings, Figure l denotes a side view of my improved bomb-lance. Fig. 2 is a longitudinal section of it. Fig. 3 is a transverse section of its cutting-head or lancepoint.` Fig. 4. 'is a transverse section 'of its elastic Wings. Fig. 5 is an end view ofthe instrument. Fig. 6 is a view ofthe other end of it. Fig. 7 is`a side view of one of' what are usually known as the Allen bomb-lances. Fig. 8 is a longitudinal section of the said Allen bomb-lance, the said Figs. 7 and 8 being drawn to one-half the scale of the'others, as the said Allen bomb-lance is more than twice the length of my improved lance.

The projectile alluded to as the Allen bomblance is that invented by Oliver Allen, and patented on the 19th day of September, A.

'1). 1846. It is usually made about three feet and four inches in length, and with a magazine or bomb-tube of about eight inchesin length and eleven-sixteenths of an inch in its external diameter, and a little over one-half an inch in its internal diameter. The shank or fuse-tube has a cylinder of wood about twenty-two inches in length and seven-eighths of an inch in diameterflxedon it.

Great difficulties have been experienced in the' practical operation ot the Allen projectile or lance. Generally speaking, it cannot'be fired from a gun adistance of over seven rods without delecting from a straight line.` At a distance of ten rods it will almost always turn downward to an angle of about seventy degrees to the liorizon. `Under such circumstances, when the point enters a whale or object the momentum of the shank throws the instrument over, so as to either bend or break the fuse-tube and prevent the bomb from entering the animal, or causes it to be torn out.

Having had much practical experience in the construction and use of the Allen projectile, l have been led to study its defects and their causes, and to provide arcmedyf'or them. My improved projectile or bomb-lance can be fired from a'gun at a distance of twenty five rods ,with all the accuracy of a musket or rifle ball.

Vhile theAllen lance has its magazine limited in size, (asitcannot be made much larger, as anyA material increase of the size of the -bomb or magazine would require such an iucreased size of its shank and consequent weight of instrument as to prevent it from being red from a gun that can be sustained by a whaleman when held against his shoulder and fired under such circumstances,) mine may be madeof a much larger size, or so as to contain double, or a very much larger amount of explosivematerial.

In the] figures representing my improved bomb-lance, A exhibits the magazine or part that contains the gunpowder or explosive material. It is about seven inches in length,

measuring from the rear part of' its lance-head B to the fuse-tube C. The extern-al diameter' of the bomb is s even-eighths of an inch, and its internal diameter .siX-eighths of an inch. These dimensions cause it to hold, when loaded, more than double .the amount of gunpowder that is in the charge of the bomb of Allen.

The lance-head is a triangular one, made with three cutting-edges, a. bc, and to correspond in shape with that of an engravers scrapera tool well know-n as used by most eugravers for scraping copper plates. The knifeedges terminate in a point at d, and in their greatest lateral departure from the axis ofthe iustrumentthey should-each not exceed the radius of the cross-section of the bomb, as the whole instrument is to be made to enter the barrel of the gun from which it is to be discharged. about one-halt' its length from the gun.

The rear end of the bomb is provided with a female screw, made so as to receive a Amale screw cut on the end of the fuse-tube, asseen at e. The said fuse-tube C is about one-half an inch in its external and three-eighths of an inch in its internaldiameter. It isto-be about seven .and one-halfinches in length, and made to terminate at its outer end -in an enlarge- The Allen vlance ,usually projects ment or. button, D, whose external diameter is lmade equal to that of the bomb. This elnlargementD is made to receive a screw, E, that is screwed into it and against a leather washer,

.F, which is first placed on the screw and lfor windage, if necessary.

The head of the screw E is provided with a recess, j', out of which a touch-hole, g, is bored through the screw and Vin line with its axis. After entering the head a short distance the touch-hole is enlarged for the remainder of the distance, so as to make it in its diameter about equal to that of the fuserope Gr,that is placedwithin the fuse-tube. Thelsaid fuse-rope visoi' the kind now in general use for blasting rocks. It'consists of atubular rope or cord lleckwith fuse-powder throughout itsflength. It is, made .t extend from end to end of the fuse-tube C, and is held in place within it by two tubular plugs,

h of type-metal, castwithin the tube and.

entirely around the ends of the fuse-rope, as seen at h i in Fig. 2. .These plugs are each about one inch and a half in length, and are composed of type-metal, or a metal or metallic composition that expands when it cools from a meltedl state, for it is very necessary that the fuse-rope should be so firmly held in place, and that there should be such a partition around it and bntween. it and the interior of the fuse-tube, as to prevent the force of the explosion of the charge of the gun from blowing through the .fuse-tube, and, particularly, igniting the charge ot' the bomb, or so doing before it can ,be set tire to by the burning of the charge of the fusy The force of the explosionkof the 'charge of thel gun is often sufficient to move the 'rearmost plug, z', some distance into the fuse-tube.

vSuch rearmost plug. thus becomes a protector of the front plug, and prevents the force of lthe explosion from loosening it or driving it out into the charge of the bomb, so as to allow the fire ofthe charge of the gun to pass into thecharge of the bomb.

Over'the touch-hole g, -and in the recess j', I place and cement e thin diaphragm or piece of pasteboard,' paper, or other suitable material, l, which I cover on its external surface with shellac or other suitable varnish that will prevent moisture or water from getting at the adjacent end of the fuse-rope. This diaphragm should be of such material as will be readily broken through by the fire and explosion of the charge of the gun. l The most important fe ture of my improved projectile remains yet to be described. It is that by which I am enabled to shorten the in. strument so as tomake' it of a length about they might -b'ecapable of two-fifths of that of Allen, while its shank or fuse-tube is reduced to only about one-fourth the length of that of Allen. The shank is provided with three elastic wings, I K L, made of vulcanized india-rnbbcr, in order to 'enable them to withstand the combustible or destructive powers of the4 explosion ot the charge of the gun. They are cemented to a tube, M, of vulcanized rubber, that is made to fit and crowded on the fuse-tube C, 'and to extend from near the rear end of it to near its junction with the magazine or bomb. When the' instrument is outof the gun these wings extend out, as seen in Figs. l, 2, and 4, and in a circle of a diameter entirely beyond that of the magazine or bomb. When inserted in the gun theyvfold down upon or around the fnse= tube, as seen in Fig. 9, which denotes a crosssection of them and the fuse-tube, showing how they fold down when put in the gun.

The requisites of these wings are that they should not only be capable of resisting the Vdestructive powers of the explosion and of being folded down, as .seen in Fig. 9,' when put in the gunfbut that'they shouldpossess an elastic property which will cause them, onbeing released from the gun, to unfold themselves and stand in the positions as seen inFig. 4.

.The Awings of bomb-lances or gun-harpoons have been constructed of metal, in order that resisting the combustible powers of the charge of the gun, and when so made it will readily be seen that their size, as they were of -necessity wholly immovable, was such as would i enable the instrument to be inserted in with the wings in the same position they had during its iight from the gun. This is not so with the wings of my projectile. The material of which they are made not only enables them to be constructed so much larger in width as to render me able to greatly diminisgi the length of the shank orl fuse-tube, or r duce it to one-tourth that of Allens bomblance, but at the same time to fire the instrument from the gun four times as' far as one of Allens can without deflection These very important advantages alone would rendermy instrument of great Value to whalemen as well as to elephant-hunters; but it possesses many others that giveeto it, I believe, y great superiority over every other kind of bomb-lance heretofore used.

What I claim as L y invention is as follows:

1. The mode of sustaining the fuse-,rope in the fusetube and preventing the fire of the charge of the gun from passing 'by the fuserope and into the bomb-viz., by the two metaliic tubular plugs h t', cast around the endsof the fuse-rope and into the fuse-tube, and arranged substantially as specified.

2. I do not claim the application of Wings or feathers to a shaft or rod to direct its the bore oi' the guL` p passage through the air; but what Ido elairu themselves after being discharged from the is my improved mode ofimaking them, viz., gun.-

of vulcanized india-rubber or other equival- In testimony whereof I have hereto set my lent, so that they may not only resist the (lesignatureftlnis 3d day of April, A. D. 1852. structive powers of the explosion, but be CHRISTOPHER C. BRAND. folded down on the shank when put into e Witnesses:

gun-barrel, and have the property of elas- I WM. E. PARK,

tieity, suoli as will enable them to unfold GEO. A. MEECH. 

